YU Announces Unified Undergraduate Faculty

Yeshiva University recently announced that it will unify the undergraduate faculties at Yeshiva College and Stern College for Women as part of its effort to improve student education and create efficiencies. The campuses and classes remain separate, while the faculty combines its resources. Dr. Karen Bacon will serve as the inaugural Dr. Monique C. Katz Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences at YU.

Dr. Karen Bacon will lead a unified Yeshiva College and Stern College for Women faculty.

“The faculty, individually and collectively, are the lifeblood of this critical institution and we will now advance to right-size the administrative parts of the university,” said YU President Richard M. Joel. “For several years, we have been discussing the need for a more unified undergraduate faculty of arts and science. Dean Bacon is a valued educator of integrity and has served with distinction in the highest levels of academic leadership—I look to her and all our faculty to continue to exercise their prerogative in shaping what is a fine curriculum still further.”

Over the next three years, faculty at the two colleges will work together to create unified departments and curricula where appropriate as well as more blended courses and cross-campus collaborations that will enhance the efficiency and quality of student learning. “This new model represents an important change in the way we function and the way our students can derive even more value from their YU experience,” said President Joel.

Bacon will draw on her substantial administrative experience and deep knowledge and understanding of Yeshiva University and its values as she guides this academic process.

“My entire career as an administrator has been shaped by my respect for faculty and the academic enterprise and by an appreciation for the difference a first-rate education can make in a student’s life,” said Bacon. “A unified undergraduate liberal arts faculty, collaborating and innovating, has the potential to fashion a Yeshiva University education that is even stronger than it is today. I feel honored to have a role in actualizing this next stage in the development of Yeshiva University.”

Bacon will have offices on both the Wilf and Israel Henry Beren Campuses. She will be assisted by associate deans for Yeshiva and Stern College, which will retain their unique identities and function as separate schools, as will the Sy Syms School of Business, which will continue its successful growth and partnerships with the two liberal arts colleges.

Yeshiva College Dean Barry Eichler will retire in June and return to his teaching and research after a sabbatical. “Dean Eichler has invested his heart and soul into Yeshiva College after assuming the deanship at my request,” said President Joel. “We are honored to have him return to teaching, which is his first love.”